Benitez rues late leveller

Wednesday 23 January 2008 00:10 BST

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez felt it was two points lost rather than one gained after seeing his side held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.

His team held a deserved half-time lead thanks to Robbie Keane's early strike but Simao Sabrosa slotted home an 83rd-minute equaliser for Atletico at the Vicente Calderon Stadium to leave both sides with seven points from their opening three games.

"I think we had control of the game in the first half and part of the second half and I'm disappointed because we had chances to finish the game off," Benitez said. "We then made a mistake in the 83rd minute and we paid for it."

He added: "If you said to me before the game that we would have seven points it might have been good, but after leading until the 83rd minute and the chances that we had, in my opinion we have lost another two points."

Having controlled the first half and barely allowed Atletico any decent chances, Liverpool found themselves under more pressure after the break.

That coincided with the arrival of Atletico star striker Sergio Aguero, who started the match on the bench due to fitness concerns but was introduced by coach Javier Aguirre in a bid to give his toothless side a cutting edge.

Aguero himself did not have that great an influence on the match individually, but the Argentinian's arrival seemed to give Atletico hope and they had already hit the post through Simao before the Portuguese levelled late on.

Liverpool were not without their opportunities either though, and they created a number of attacking platforms that Benitez felt they should have made more of.

"We didn't have one or two of situations, we had plenty of them on the edge of the box and we didn't finish them off," said Benitez, who nevertheless felt his side put in a decent performance overall. "I think we have played a very good match, we have controlled the match and when you play well the other team looks worse.

"I think the entrance of Kun (Aguero) gave more depth to their play and we defended worse, and they also took advantage of the favourable wind in order to play long passes against us."